WASHINGTON — The proof is in the polling, Rep. Michele Bachmann said yesterday.

Speaking in live interviews, the Minnesota Republican said her presidential candidacy, which she’s slated to announce today, had been validated by a stunning Iowa poll showing her neck-and-neck with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.

“We had very strong support, enthusiasm wherever we went. And so this confirmed that,” she told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

The Iowa poll by the Des Moines Register showed Romney with 23 percent to Bachmann’s 22 percent at the front of a crowded GOP field.